My son’s Navin R Johnson…ness

I’ve noticed that whenever my 3 year old leaves the house, he quickly begins collecting items that he’ll “need” for wherever we’re going. This morning, before heading to grammie’s house, he needed his fire helmet, a police badge, a purple marker, a cowboy hat, a small brown piece of paper, a paperclip, a pirate hat and his blanket.

Reminds me of Navin R Johnson in the Jerk when he is being forced out of his house (from IMDB.com):

Navin R. Johnson: Well I’m gonna to go then! And I don’t need any of this. I don’t need this stuff, and I don’t need *you*. I don’t need anything. Except this.
[picks up an ashtray]Navin R. Johnson: And that’s the only thing I need is *this*. I don’t need this or this. Just this ashtray… And this paddle game. – The ashtray and the paddle game and that’s all I need… And this remote control. – The ashtray, the paddle game, and the remote control, and that’s all I need… And these matches. – The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control, and the paddle ball… And this lamp. – The ashtray, this paddle game, and the remote control, and the lamp, and that’s all *I* need. And that’s *all* I need too. I don’t need one other thing, not one… I need this. – The paddle game and the chair, and the remote control, and the matches for sure. Well what are you looking at? What do you think I’m some kind of a jerk or something! – And this. That’s all I need.
[walking outside]

You need to channel that Navin R Johnson-ness into some MacGuyver-ness. You pick him up from Grammie’s and the formerly “fire helmet, a police badge, a purple marker, a cowboy hat, a small brown piece of paper, a paperclip, a pirate hat and his blanket”, is now transformed into a Satellite TV receiver capable of picking up 500 channels. It’s all about the next step!

And, by the way, the stuff gets more interesting as they get older: I cleaned out Jack’s backpack and it was filled with your normal stuff you need for 3rd grade: a football, 2 wrestling action figures, silly bands, a program from the Wave game, and his goalie gloves. I am surprised he could fit his school folder in there.